Christians...if you invite someone to church and they say "no thank you"...?

Question

do you leave them alone about it afterward, or do you think "I'll ask them again another time" and follow through?

I'm just wondering what your thoughts are about a person who declines your invitation.

Answer 1

I scold them and scream at them.

Answer 2

I usually don't invite people to church unless I know they are already a Christian. And then I'll ask them about where they go to church and if they are already hooked up with a good church, that's great. I may or may not invited them to mine.

There have been times when I suspect someone is a Christian and then I wonder why haven't they invited me to attend some special event at their church?

I will invite them to a home bible study or a men's fellowship, which my church holds once a month a Monday evenings. For example that event was held last night.

If a family has children I will invite their children to attend VBS or their youth to attend events of the Youth of the church.

If I know or suspect they are not Christians I'll talk to them about what God or Jesus means to them. I'll ask what they think about the Bible. I'll ask about movies which are related to the subject of "religion".

Of course I try not to let on that I'm a Pastor. I'd rather they think of me as just a "regular person".

Even getting someone's opinion about the new Harry Potter book is a conversation starter.

22 years ago I moved into a new house and met the neighbors on one side and I did invite them to come to church with me and I was assured they were Lutherans and they already had a church. The people on the other side of me I never saw, and never met.

Still in 20 years I never once saw them leave the house to attend church on a Sunday morning.

As I was packing to move, 20 years later, I noticed they were talking about God and the Bible in their backyard with some people. Turned out they were Mormon Missionaries.

Now that I've moved, I find myself living next door to a Mormon family on the one side and a vacant house on the other. Across the street are a couple of gay men and a couple of elderly people from France, who speak French most of the time and when they do speak English its very hard to understand them.

I suspect they were raised Catholic and I also suspect that they have not been to church since the moved to America.

I have invited them to visit a couple of different church and they have declined enough times that I no longer try.

Pastor Art

Answer 3

Whether I would ask them again at another time depends solely on the circumstances. I would not automatically decide to try again later.
Actually I've never invited any nonbeliever to my church. Regular church services are for people who know God or who wish to know God. I don't see anyone else getting anything out of it.

Edit: Correction. I just remembered one time several years ago when I invited a nonbeliever to church. They declined and I forgot about it.

Answer 4

Well that's a bit rude. Try not to get mad at them. Don't ask again for a while. Just act like nothing is wrong and wait for the oppurtunity when they are having a hard time, and say something like, "I have always found attending church makes me feel at ease."......that was a great thing of you to do and I am sorry that you got shot down....keep spreading the word and keep inviting! God bless.

-Katie

Answer 5

We ask them again on wednesday nite and if they say no again then we say to them what is it u are afraid of or do u have another church u go too and if they say they arent interested in church we leave them alone and pray for their eternal souls...

Answer 6

the search for ones self and the afterlife and questions regarding this are deeply personal and the motivation to such ends needs to come from each individual at a time that they choose .
so if your asking seriously now in this question i would leave well alone. nthing worse than having religion inflicted upon yourself un asked and uninvited, you may find they develop an adversion through pressure if you continue asking

Answer 7

It would depend on what they said. If they expressed interest, but were busy I would invite them again. If they made it clear that they really didn't want to attend, I would leave them alone. In either case I would leave a door open. By that I mean say to them that if they change their mind they are always welcome.

Pastor John

Answer 8

No thoughts at all. If I invite a friend to church and he or she said "no thanks" I would simply accept that answer. It would be pointless for me to try to figure out why they said no (are they opposed to church, were they too busy that day, whatever) if they didn't say anything. I might ask them again if I thought a particular topic would appeal to them and I might not if they made it clear with their no that they had no interest in attending my church (or no interest in church in general).

Answer 9

Leave the person alone from then on. There is no wiggle room in the refusal of an invitation when it is phrased "no thank you". While I am not a christian, I am somewhat human.

GF

Answer 10

I am now a Christian because someone invited me to go to church with them ... but that certainly is NOT 'the whole story.'
Neither my husband nor I believe in 'evangelism' ... we do 'tell people our relgion' if asked, and 'explain things' if asked, but we DO NOT INVITE people to 'go to church with us' ... at MOST we tell them to 'come sometime' (especially at the High Holy Days of Christmas and Easter) so they can 'experience' it ... but we both feel that if people want to go to church, they will go to church, and if not, then we don't 'invite' them because that could make them 'uncomfortable' with us in the future, and we may need to 'be there for them' then, and wouldn't want them to be uncomfortable about asking us for help!

Answer 11

I don't usually invite people to church, unless they specifically ask me about where I go to worship. Why would I do this?

I've invited my mother to church a time or two, but not as a proselytizing manoeuvre, if that's what you're getting at.